Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to text-to-speech applications and, more particularly, to apparatuses and methods for phonetically screening predetermined character strings.
2. Description of the Background
Some advanced telecommunications services provide for the audible enunciation to the called party of the name of the calling party. For example, according to a talking call waiting (TCW) service, if the called party receives an incoming call when it is already participating in another call, the called party may press a key on the keypad of the telephone to receive an audible enunciation of the subscriber name associated with the calling party. In addition, according to an audio calling name (ACN) service, the called party is provided an audible enunciation of the subscriber name associated with the calling party for an incoming call. The called party may then be played a message prompting the called party to, for example, either accept the incoming call, reject the call, or forward it to a voice messaging system.
With either of these exemplary telecommunications services, or any other similar service, because of data storage limitations, the subscriber name of the calling party is typically truncated to approximately fifteen characters, although the billing name associated with the calling party may be as great as fifty characters or more. Consequently, in some instances the truncated form of the calling party""s name may be unacceptable in, for example, an etiquette sense, for phonetic enunciation to the called party.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a manner in which certain predetermined character strings, which are unacceptable for phonetic enunciation, may be replaced with more appropriate character strings.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus for phonetically screening predetermined character strings. According to one embodiment, the apparatus includes a text-to-speech module, and a phonetic screening module in communication with the text-to-speech module. The phonetic ""screening module is for replacing a first character string with a second character string based on a phonetic enunciation by the text-to-speech module of the first character string.
The apparatus of the present invention may be used, for example, to screen predetermined character strings which are phonetically inappropriate to be voiced to an intended listener. For example, the present invention may be used in the provision of telecommunications services in which the name of, for example, a present or prior calling party, is voiced to a listener. Such telecommunications services include, for example, talking call waiting (TCW), audio calling name (ACN), and audio call return (ACR). Because the name of the calling party stored in a network database of a telephone network is typically a truncated form of the calling party""s true name due to data storage limitations, the present invention may be employed to prevent the enunciation to the listener of truncated names that are inappropriate. For example, the apparatus of the present invention may be used to phonetically screen expletives or other unflattering words.
In addition to telecommunications services, benefits of the present invention may also be realized in other applications in which text content is to be voiced to a listener. Such other applications include, for example, the conversion of electronic mail or word processing text documents to speech for delivery to a listener over a network such as, for example, the Internet or a telephone network.
These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description hereinbelow.